Logstown

Logstown is located in Harmony Township, about 14 miles northwest of the Forks of the Ohio (now in downtown Pittsburgh) in an area on the east bank of the Ohio River opposite Aliquippa. The site is also due north of the Pittsburgh International Airport. Today the site is marked with a stone bearing a brass plaque placed there by the Fort McIntosh chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1932, memorializing the visit of Major George Washington to the town in November, 1753. == Etymology ==

A few sources claim that in 1747 the French built about 30 log cabins, some with stone chimneys, on a plateau above the original Logstown village, and that these log cabins supposedly gave the town its name. However, George P. Donehoo says that the name "was probably due to the fact that large numbers of logs were left upon the flat after the floods in the Ohio River." Donehoo and several other sources report that the original Lenape name of the village was Maughwawame, which translates to "extensive flats." The French referred to the town as "Chiningue" which Father Joseph Pierre de Bonnecamps notes was their designation and not a Native name: "We called it Chiningue, from its vicinity to a river of that name." Donehoo says that chiningue is a French word for beaver, but also suggests that it may be a corruption of ochenango, a Seneca word meaning "large bull thistles." ==Early history==

The original village was settled by Shawnees, possibly as early as 1725 or 1730 on low-lying land less than a mile north of present-day Ambridge in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The population grew as groups of Lenape, Cayugas, Senecas, and Shawnees migrated west into the Ohio River Valley seeking to escape a smallpox epidemic in 1733 and a drought in 1741, creating a multi-ethnic community. In August 1744 the town's population increased significantly when Kakowatcheky arrived with his band of Shawnee warriors and their families from Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. Kakowatcheky is sometimes credited with founding Logstown. Another early resident was Opessa Straight Tail, who moved to Logstown some time before 1750. The town's population varied from approximately 200 to 500 people. In 1749 Céloron de Blainville observed fifty cabins housing about sixty warriors, suggesting a population of 200 to 250 total, while in late 1758 George Croghan noted forty houses for about one hundred and twenty warriors, On the east bank of the river, a few homes were built on a grassy terrace above the floodplain, the so-called "upper town." In 1747, the Six Nations Confederacy Haudenosaunee sent two headmen as emissaries to live in Logstown and supervise the Iroquois allies: Tanacharison, a Seneca, and Scarouady, an Oneida. Tanacharison oversaw the Delawares and Scarouady supervised the Shawnees. ==Visit by George Croghan, 1748==

The provincial government of Pennsylvania was anxious to keep Native Americans in the Ohio Valley from being influenced by the French. As early as 1731, agents from Montreal had visited communities along the Ohio River, distributing goods and urging the tribes to send emissaries to Quebec to establish alliances. promising a military alliance against the French in exchange for supplies and trade goods. In late July, fifty-five representatives of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawnees, Nanticokes, and Twightwees met at the courthouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and signed a peace treaty with the Pennsylvania Provincial Council. This treaty guaranteed commercial access to tribes across the Ohio Valley as far west as the Wabash River, an unprecedented diplomatic achievement for the English. ==Visit by Conrad Weiser, 1748==

In 1748, the colony of Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania's ambassador to the Six Nations, to Logstown. Arriving on August 27, he set up his headquarters in Croghan's trading post and visited the surrounding villages. Soon a large number of Delaware, Shawnee, Iroquois and Wyandot Indians gathered at Logstown, including the Wyandot chief Orontony and five other leaders from Kuskusky, who "behav’d like People of good Sense & Sincerity." Weiser met each tribe separately and then in a general council he announced that King George's War had ended and that England and France signed a peace treaty. As a result, the English had no more war supplies for them and he distributed gifts instead. The chiefs complied with his request for a count of their warriors in the Ohio Valley region: William's journey subsequently inspired his father's keen interest in the frontier. ==Visit by Céloron de Blainville, 1749==

along the Ohio River in 1749, drawn by Joseph Pierre de Bonnecamps, showing the "Village de Chingue" (Logstown).|220pxIn 1749, the Comte de La Galissonière wanted to strengthen French control over the Ohio Country, and in August he ordered the military commander at Detroit, Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville to travel down the Ohio River to demonstrate French dominance. Leading a force of eight officers, six cadets, an armorer, 20 soldiers, 180 Canadians, 30 Iroquois and 25 Abenakis, Céloron moved down the river on a flotilla of 23 large boats and birch-bark canoes, on his "lead plate expedition," burying lead plates at six locations where major tributaries entered the Ohio and nailing copper plates bearing royal arms to trees to claim the territory for New France. Céloron arrived at Logstown on August 8, 1749. The Shawnee chief Kakowatcheky, fearing an assault, rallied the town's population in its defense. According to William Trent, "the Indians ran to their arms and hoisted the English Colors. Cawcaw-wi-cha-ke, the Shawnese King about 114 years of age, set his back against the flag staff with his gun in his hand and desired the young men to kill them all." Céloron was enraged by the sight of the British flag, but noted the armed warriors, writing in his journal: I made the men of my detachment brush themselves up as well as possible, so as to give them a better appearance, and I arranged everything...in good order, as I considered this one of the most considerable villages of the Beautiful River (the Ohio River)...When I was in sight of the village I discovered three French and one English flag...I had M. de Joncaire tell them to ...knock down the English [flag], or I would have it taken away myself. This was done immediately, a woman cut the pole and the flag has not been seen since...I fixed my camp securely near the village, and made it appear as strong as it was possible for me. I had body guards placed on the right and the left, I ordered sentinels to be placed at a short distance from each other, and bivouacked for the night. Céloron reported that he was informed that warriors in Logstown had planned to attack his camp during the first night, but that his well-armed force, sentinels, and carefully planned encampment discouraged them from doing so. Later that evening "the Chiefs, accompanied by thirty or forty braves, came to salute me." They apologized for the English flag, saying that it had been put on display by some young men "for show...and without perceiving the consequences," adding that "our heart is entirely French." and wrote a scolding note to the governor of Pennsylvania, which stated in part: I have been very much surprised to find some merchants of your government in this country, to which England has never had any pretensions. I have treated them with all possible mildness, though I had a right to look upon them as intruders and mere vagrants, their traffic being contrary to the preliminaries of the peace (Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)), signed more than fifteen months ago. I hope, Sir, you will condescend to forbid this trade for the future, which is contrary to the treaties; and that you will warn your traders not to return into these territories; for, if so, they can only impute to themselves the evils which might befall them. I know that our Governor-General would be very sorry to have to resort to violent measures, but he has received positive orders not to allow foreign merchants or traders in his government. to advise the chiefs that the French were aware of their plans. Céloron writes that the warriors did not attack, but "filed before my camp and made the accustomed salute." Chiefs from the village visited the French camp the next day with pipes of peace, and Céloron reprimanded them for contemplating violence, adding: "I know how to make war, and those who have made war with us ought to know it, too." Afterwards, Céloron called the English traders who were living in Logstown to meet with him, "to whom I addressed a summons to retire into their own territory with all their servants...They answered...that they would do so, that they knew well they had no right to trade on the Beautiful River." Bonnecamps wrote in his own diary: The English there were 10 in number, and one among them was their chief. Monsieur de Céloron had him come, and ordered him, as he had done with the others, to return to his own country. The Englishman, who saw us ready to depart, acquiesced in all that was exacted from him, — firmly resolved, doubtless, to do nothing of the kind, as soon as our backs were turned. Governor James Hamilton sent George Croghan to Logstown as soon as they learned of Céloron's visit, to find out how the Indians had reacted to the French expedition. Croghan arrived in late August, only a few days after Céloron's departure, and reported that the Indians had told Céloron "that the land was their own, and while there were any Indians in those parts they would continue to trade with the English," adding that “to separate them from their brothers, the English, would be like cutting a man in two halves and then expecting him to live.” ==Visit by Christopher Gist, 1750==

In September, 1750 the Ohio Company ordered Christopher Gist to survey lands along the Ohio to find an area of 200,000 acres that the Company could take possession of, according to a 1749 grant from King George II of England. Gist was instructed to Search out and discover the Lands upon the River Ohio, & other adjoining Branches of the Mississippi down as low as the great Falls thereof: You are particularly to observe the Ways & Passes thro all the Mountains you cross, & take an exact Account of the Soil, Quality, & Product of the Land, and the Wideness and Deepness of the Rivers, & the several Falls belonging to them, together with the Courses & Bearings of the Rivers & Mountains as near as you conveniently can: You are, also to observe what Nations of Indians inhabit there, their Strength & Numbers, who they trade with, & in what Comodities they deal. Gist arrived in Logstown on 25 November, describing the path of the Ohio River as it appeared before reaching the town: "Down the River...to Loggs Town, the Lands these last 8 [miles] very rich, the Bottoms above a Mile wide, but on the SE side, scarce a Mile wide, the Hills high and steep. In the Loggs Town, I found scarce any Body but a Parcel of reprobate Indian Traders, the Chiefs of the Indians being out a hunting." In the town he found the people suspicious of his reasons for being there, as it was already clear to the Natives that the colonial governments were hoping to take possession of the land: "The People in this Town, began to enquire my Business, and because I did not readily inform them, they began to suspect me, and said, I was come to settle the Indian's Lands and they knew I should never go Home again safe." Gist invented a reason for his visit, that "I had a Message to deliver the Indians from the King, by Order of the President of Virginia," which "obtained me Quiet and Respect among them." Gist spent one night in the town and left the next day, observing the river downstream from the town: "The Bottoms upon the River below the Logg's Town very rich but narrow, the high Land pretty good but not very rich." ==Visit by Chabert de Joncaire, 1750-51==

After Céloron returned and reported his experiences, the new Governor-General of New France, the Marquis de la Jonquière, decided to send Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire back to Logstown to establish a permanent French base there. a symbol of the importance of his message. Keeshequeatama, Speaker for the Six Nations, replied: You desire we may turn our Brothers, the English, away, and not suffer them to come and trade with us again. I now tell you from our hearts, we will not; for we ourselves brought them here to trade with us and they shall live amongst us as long as there is one of us alive. You are always threatening our Brothers what you will do to them, and in particular, to that man (pointing to George Croghan); now, if you have anything to say to our Brothers, tell it to him if you be a man, as you Frenchmen always say you are, and the Head of all Nations. Our Brothers are the people we will trade with, and not you. to build a road and construct a series of forts (Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Machault), and later, Fort Duquesne. ==English attempts to build a fort at Logstown==

The Ohio Iroquois had been reluctant to allow the English to build forts in the region. As early as March 23, 1731, Seneca chiefs sent a message to Governor Patrick Gordon: "It is [our] land but your people may trade there but not build Stone or Timber houses, but of Bark." Twenty years later, the English began working to obtain permission to build forts. George Croghan was in Logstown in November, 1750 when the residents mentioned to him that Joncaire was exploring the idea of building a French fort nearby. In his letter of 16 November to Governor Hamilton, Croghan then adds: "We have seen but very few of the Chiefs of the Indians they being all out a hunting, but those we have seen are of opinion that their Brothers the English ought to have a Fort on this River to secure the Trade." On 29 May 1751, at a council meeting at Logstown between George Croghan, Andrew Montour and representatives of the Six Nations, Croghan reported the following statement from Iroquois speaker Toanahiso: We expect that you our Brothers will build a Strong House on the River Ohio, that if we should be obliged to engage in a war that we should have a Place to secure our Wives and Children...Now, Brothers, we will take two months to consider and choose out a place fit for that Purpose, and then we will send You word. We hope Brothers that as soon as you receive our Message you will order such a House to be built. Brothers: that you may consider well the necessity of building such a Place of Security to strengthen our arms, and that this, our first request of that kind may have a good effect on your minds. ==Treaty of Logstown, 1752==

and Peter Jefferson depicting "Log's Town," at the upper margin.In 1749 the British Crown awarded the Ohio Company a grant of 500,000 acres in the Ohio Country between the Monongahela and the Kanawha Rivers, provided that the company would settle 100 families within seven years. The Ohio Company was also required to construct a fort and provide a garrison to protect the settlement at their own expense. The Treaty of Logstown was intended to open up land for settlement so that the Ohio Company could meet the seven-year deadline, and to obtain explicit permission to construct a fort. Between 1 and 13 June 1752, the British held a council at Logstown with representatives of the Six Nations, and the Lenape and Shawnee who had been tributary to them. Colonel Joshua Fry, James Patton, and Lunsford Lomax represented the Colony of Virginia, and Christopher Gist, William Trent, and William Beverley represented the Ohio Company. One of the main purposes of the Logstown treaty conference was to confirm the 1744 Lancaster Treaty in which the Six Nations supposedly gave up territory to Virginia, along the Ohio River on the southeast, as there was anxiety on the part of the colonial authorities as to whether the Indians were still willing to abide by the treaty. The Ohio Company and the Virginia commissioners also wanted the Ohio tribes to grant permission to build a fort at the forks of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and to allow new English settlements to be established on a half-million acres of unsettled land to the west and north of the Ohio River. The Company wanted to open trade with the Ohio Indians, which the French had forbidden. the site of present-day Pittsburgh. At the conclusion of the Logstown conference, Tanacharison promised that existing settlements southeast of the Ohio River "shall be unmolested by us, and that we will, as far as in our power, assist and Protect the British Subjects there." In spite of Tanacharison's promises, the Ohio Indians did not agree to allow English settlements in the Ohio region, Logan also wanted a leader with the determination to bring those Lenape who had migrated to Ohio back to the Susquehanna region, and felt that Pisquetomen would be unable and unwilling to attempt this. The Iroquois instructed Tanacharison to decide on a leader acceptable to all parties, and at Logstown Tanacharison presented Shingas as his choice, arguing "that is our right to give you a King" to represent the Lenape in "all publick Business" between the Lenape, the Six Nations, and the British. In late 1753 (the exact date is unknown) the sachems at Logstown received a letter from Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre stating: I am commanded to build four strong Houses, viz. at Weningo, Mohongialo Forks, Logs-Town, and Beaver Creek, and this I will do...All the Land and Waters on this Side Allegheny Hills are mine, on the other Side theirs; this is agreed on between the two Crowns over the great Waters. I do not like your selling your Lands to the English; they shall draw you into no more foolish Bargains. I will take Care of your Lands for you, and of you. ==Visit by George Washington, 1753==

(1847), depicting Washington (standing) and Gist meeting with Shingas, Scarouady, Tanacharison, and other Native American leaders at Logstown in November, 1753.In late 1753, Virginia Governor Dinwiddie appointed newly-commissioned Major George Washington as a special envoy to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf to demand that the French vacate the Ohio Valley territory, which the British had claimed. Washington was also ordered to make peace with the Iroquois Confederacy and to gather intelligence about the French forces. Washington left Williamsburg, Virginia on 30 October with eight men, heading to Logstown to meet with Iroquois allies. On his way, he stopped at the homestead of Christopher Gist near Wills Creek and Gist joined them. Arriving in Logstown on 23 November, Washington held council with Shingas, Scarouady, and Tanacharison, who had recently returned from a journey to Fort Le Boeuf himself. Guyasuta, and Jeskakake, on his journey to Fort Le Boeuf. was building a road between Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Machault. The deserters had learned of La Malgue's sudden death on 29 October and had taken refuge in Lower Shawneetown. They were on their way to Philadelphia in the company of an English trader. Washington and his men left Logstown on 30 November and reached Venango at French Creek on 4 December, where they were warmly greeted by Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire, who was in command of the French troops at Venango. Joncaire provided Washington's men with wine and brandy, and the Indians, when intoxicated, declared their loyalty to the French. It took Washington three days to persuade them to move on to Fort Le Boeuf, where they met the French commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. Tanacharison tried to return the wampum to Saint-Pierre, "who evaded taking it, & made many fair Promises of Love & Friendship; said he wanted to live in Peace & trade amicably with them; as a Proof of which, he wou’d send some Goods immediately down to the Logstown for them." The French refused to consider leaving the area, and gave Washington a reply to deliver personally to Williamsburg. ==French attempts to build a fort at Logstown==

After Washington's return to Williamsburg, Governor Dinwiddie wrote to Governor James De Lancey of New York about Washington's mission, stating: :"On his arrival he found that the French had taken a post on a branch of the River Ohio, and built a Fort...and that they had in readiness materials for other forts, which they declared their intentions to erect on the River, and particularly at Logstown, the place destined for their chief residence, as soon as the season would permit them to embark." which set up a temporary post nearby. In case he found on his way some English establishments not farther than six leagues from the river, he would call on them to retire, would give the plunder to the savages and destroy these settlements." The French then decided that a fort at Logstown was unnecessary, particularly because of the lack of trees for lumber. ==Destruction of Logstown, 1754==

A few days before Washington's surrender at Fort Necessity on 3 July 1754, Scarouady burned down Logstown. Washington's journal entry for 26 June 1754, reads: "An Indian arrived bearing the news that Monacatoocha (Scarouady) had burned his village, Logstown, and was gone by water with his people to Red-Stone, and might be expected there in two days." Henry Wilson Temple reports that the town's inhabitants destroyed it "fearing lest they might be punished for their alliance with the French." About 200 of the town's Iroquois, Shawnee and Lenape residents moved to Fort Cumberland, and later to the Aughwick Valley near present-day Shirleysburg, Pennsylvania. ==Later years==

Rebuilding, 1755 In March, 1755, French forces began rebuilding the village. Joseph Gaspard Chaussegros de Lery passed the site of the town on 5 April 1755 and refers to it as the "Little Chaouanon Village." In December, 1755, George Croghan hired a Lenape Indian named Jo Hickman to visit Kittanning and Logstown and bring back information on the number of warriors and European prisoners in each place, as Indian raids on settlements had become frequent, and the Pennsylvania Provincial Council was contemplating sending a military force to attack one or both of these communities. At Logstown Hickman observed "about 100 Indians and 30 English prisoners." Christian Frederick Post visited the town in December, 1758, and wrote in his journal: "I came to Logs Town, situated on a hill. On the east end is a great piece of low land, where the Old Log's Town used to stand. In the New Log's Town, the French have built about thirty houses for the Indians." John McCullough was 8 years old when he was captured by Lenape warriors in July, 1756, and brought to "Shenango," (a corruption of Chiningué). In his captivity narrative he reports living there with a Lenape family for two and a half years and states that Logstown "lay in a semi-circular form, round the bend of a creek." He refers to an upper town and a lower town. In late 1758, he moved to "Kseek-he-ooing" (possibly Saucunk) and was released in December, 1764, along with over 200 other captives, by order of Colonel Henry Bouquet. Abandonment, 1758 In late 1758, Logtown's inhabitants were invited to establish a new town on the Upper Scioto, at Pickaway Plains, by the former residents of Lower Shawneetown, who had abandoned their village in November 1758. On 26 November, George Croghan and Andrew Montour proceeded down the river to Shingas's Town (Saucunk). In his journal, Croghan writes: Set off at seven o'clock, in company with six Delawares, and that night arrived at Logs Town, which we found deserted by its late inhabitants. On inquiring the reason of their speedy flight, the Delawares informed me the Lower Shanoes [inhabitants of Lower Shawneetown] had removed off the River up Sihotta (Scioto), to a great plain called Moguck, and sent for those that lived here to come there and live with them, and quit the French, and at the same time the deputies of the Six Nations, which I had sent from Easton, came and hastened their departure. In this Town [Logstown] is forty houses, all built for them by the French, and lived here about one hundred and twenty warriors. showing Logs Town near Fort Pitt. George Croghan returned to the area in 1765. His journal entry for 16 May says: We set off at seven o'clock in the morning, and at ten o'clock arrived at the Logs Town, an old settlement of the Shawnesse, about seventeen miles from Fort Pitt, where we put ashore, and viewed the remains of that village, which was situated on a high bank, on the south side of the Ohio river, a fine fertile country round it. On 5 September 1772, the Reverend David McClure visited John Gibson, a trader, at "his house in Logs Town, which was the only house there." In March, 1793 the Seneca leader Guyasuta, a former resident of Logstown, was invited to Legionville to meet with General Wayne for peace talks. ==Archaeological excavations==

in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.The only known archaeological studies of the Logstown site took place in 1940 and 1942. The 1955 Annals of the Carnegie Museum states: "One unsuccessful attempt has been made [in 1942] to locate the late Historic village known as Logstown." In 2011 an archaeological survey of the Beaver Creek area noted that the Logstown site has never been ...formally excavated by professional archaeologists. Advancement of the Colonial period...had a devastating effect on the archaeological record of the last organized native villages of the western part of the state. Further destruction occurred as industry and development expanded, and any remains that survived the initial onslaught [were] likely wiped away. In 2019 the National Park Service conducted a survey of the route traveled by George Washington from Williamsburg, Virginia to Fort LeBoeuf between October, 1753 and January, 1754, to determine the feasibility of designating this a National Historic Trail. The report notes that "The site of Logs Town, an Indian village that Washington visited in 1753, also has...potential for an archeological survey." ==See also==